Countryside Alliance News Release
Hunting Act Prosecution Collapses
Release: 10th March 2009
The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped the high profile prosecution of huntsman Julian Barnfield, of the Heythrop Hunt in Oxfordshire, following a recent High Court ruling on the Hunting Act.
Mr. Barnfield was charged with four offences of hunting a fox between November 2008 and February 2009. The case was reviewed following a High Court ruling in February that 'searching' for a mammal was not hunting, and that hunting could only be an 'intentional' activity.
The Director of Public Prosecutions decided last week not to appeal the High Court judgement and today Mr. Barnfield was told that the case against him was to be discontinued. The CPS have just two other cases pending against hunts in Somerset and Northumberland.
Simon Hart, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: "The collapse of the case against Julian Barnfield is another nail in the coffin of the Hunting Act. The High Court judgment was always going to make prosecutions less likely and there can be no clearer illustration of that than the decision not to continue with this case.
"The Act has failed completely, but a law which promotes so much conflict and causes so much confusion cannot be allowed to remain in force. There are no reasonable arguments left for retaining the Hunting Act so getting rid of it need not be complicated or time consuming. Bad laws should be repealed, and this is a very bad law.